The group has (supposedly) reappeared – working with Occupy Wall Street.
At the time of ACORN’s disbanding, the group’s director warned that the group wouldn’t be disappearing, but breaking up into smaller regional units. The Rehugs may indeed regret forcing the group underground, and to go Guerrilla.
ACORN has the ground game, and organizational moxy to assist the Occupy Wall Street Movement to turn in to an even more extensive major force. The right wing’s greatest nightmare.
Now – the article below is a Faux News article, and considering that Faux News are the same people who broadcast edited and fake videos of the ACORN Pimp, and broadcast highly edited and prejudicial video attacking Shirly Sherrod – you have to take much of what they say with a grain of salt. Ergo – Faux News doesn’t have the journalistic integrity not to be lying either about the money, how the organization works, or what the organization does. That is, after all, what they do…Lie. And the one proven entity, based on track record, not to tell the truth relative to ACORN, OWS, or any community organization is Faux.
So…Is there a connection between former ACORN people and OWS? Probably. It isn’t out of the universe of possibility that folks who supported what ACORN was doing at the community service level to also be attracted to OWS. Is one of the community groups that spun out of ACORN providing support to OWS? It certainly is in the realm of the possible – and perfectly legitimate. But to prove that anything illegitimate is going on takes a bit more than just wild eyed prevarication by an organization, such as Faux News, whose reputation has already been deeply sullied by their own lies – about the same folks.
The former New York office for ACORN, the disbanded community activist group, is playing a key role in the self-proclaimed “leaderless” Occupy Wall Street movement, organizing “guerrilla” protest events and hiring door-to-door canvassers to collect money under the banner of various causes while spending it on protest-related activities, sources tell FoxNews.com.
The former director of New York ACORN, Jon Kest, and his top aides are now busy working at protest events for New York Communities for Change (NYCC). That organization was created in late 2009 when some ACORN offices disbanded and reorganized under new names after undercover video exposes prompted Congress to cut off federal funds.
NYCC’s connection to ACORN isn’t a tenuous one: It works from the former ACORN offices in Brooklyn, uses old ACORN office stationery, employs much of the old ACORN staff and, according to several sources, engages in some of the old organization’s controversial techniques to raise money, interest and awareness for the protests.
Sources said NYCC has hired about 100 former ACORN-affiliated staff members from other cities – paying some of them $100 a day – to attend and support Occupy Wall Street. Dozens of New York homeless people recruited from shelters are also being paid to support the protests, at the rate of $10 an hour, the sources said.
At least some of those hired are being used as door-to-door canvassers to collect money that’s used to support the protests.
Seems to me that next up on the DOJ’s criminal docket should be Faux News’ violation of ACORN employees Civil Rights – and possibly a RICO Investigation into criminal activity aimed at illegally destroying the organization. Several employees lost their jobs due to defamatory reporting. Further, it is normally incumbent on a News Organization to determine if the information it is broadcasting was collected legally – AND if laws were broken in the collection or manipulation of that information.
Looks like the ACORN Pimp may be paying out more than just the ass in his abbreviated prison stay…
This article is short on the legal ramifications, but while the ACORN Pimp, James O’Keefe and his accomplices have escaped further criminal prosecution – they are liable for defamation, and the loss of jobs by ACORN employees. The accomplices in this case not only include the “Ho'” who worked with O’Keefe, but possibly Brietbart (and others) who apparently financed their “operation” – as well as Faux News who promoted the tapes even when substantial evidence emerged that they were fake.
Now – if some aspiring young lawyers really want to have some fun – what I would suggest is taking a look at the local Public Utilities Commissions and FCC to check on what remediation is possible against Public Service broadcasters knowingly broadcasting false and defamatory material…
A former ACORN employee in San Diego who lost his job after being filmed giving advice to “ACORN pimp” James O’Keefe is suing the amateur videographer and his partner, Hannah Giles, San Diego CityBeat’s Dave Maas reported Friday.
Juan Carlos Vera was one of a number of ACORN employees who in the summer of 2009 was secretly filmed giving advice to O’Keefe and Giles, who were posing as a pimp and prostitute with plans to bring underage prostitutes to the US from Latin America.
In a lawsuit (PDF) filed in a California court this week, Vera argues O’Keefe and Giles broke the law when they taped their conversation inside the ACORN office. California is one of about a dozen states where conversations can only be recorded if all parties to it agree. Vera is seeking $75,000, plus unspecified “special damages.”
San Diego CityBeat reports that California Attorney General Jerry Brown cleared Vera of wrongdoing in a report earlier this year. Brown found that, though Vera appeared sympathetic to the “pimp and prostitute” during the taped meeting, he immediately notified the police of the conversation. Brown’s investigation also found that the O’Keefe videos were “significantly edited.”
The shocking prospect of ACORN employees aiding in human trafficking prompted Congress to de-fund the group last year, a move that was later ruled unconstitutional. And a report from the Government Accountability Office, released earlier this year, found no evidence of wrongdoingon the part of ACORN, which received some $40 million in federal funding from 2005 to 2009.
Looks to me that ACORN was destroyed intentionally, damaging the rights of millions of poor people in the United States. I think there minimally should be a criminal investigation into this, and a class-action lawsuit on behalf of communities formerly served by ACORN, former ACORN employees, and the former corporate entity.
The Right Wing Mafia and Hit Squad Should Be Held Accountable
A new government report debunks claims made by right-wing politicians and media that the now defunct community advocacy group ACORN violated elections law and supported voter fraud.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Monday also confirms that two former ACORN employees in Maryland did not break the law when they offered advice to conservative activist James O’Keefe and columnist Hannah Giles, who secretly videotaped a meeting with the employees while posing as a couple interested in starting a brothel.
O’Keefe and fellow activists pled guilty last month to a misdemeanor charge for illegally entering Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office and tampering with her phone.
ACORN fired the employees that advised O’Keefe and Giles and then filed a lawsuit against the pranksters, alleging they broke a Maryland law stating that both parties must agree to sound recordings.
The media firestorm created by O’Keefe’s video was the tipping point in a right-wing war against ACORN that can be traced back to the Bush administration. Congress quickly acted to strip the organization of funding, and both public and private donors dropped their sponsorship.
ACORN had been the largest poor people’s rights and community organizing group in the nation, but, starved for funds, the national organization folded in March.
ACORN voter registration drives in poor and minority neighborhoods were apparently a threat to the Bush administration as early as 2004, according to a Truthout investigative report. Emails that surfaced in August 2009 revealed the role that Karl Rove and other administration officials played in the firings of nine US attorneys, two of whom had refused to bring criminal charges against individuals affiliated with ACORN.
The media was quick to report on an alleged history of voter fraud and election violations attributed to ACORN and its affiliates during the 2008 election season, but the GAO report found that, in every case identified, complaints filed against ACORN with the Federal Elections Commission were dismissed.
The report also showed that four of six FBI investigations into alleged voter fraud committed by ACORN employees were closed due to lack of evidence. The two other investigations were also closed and referred to local and state jurisdictions.
The report detailed five cases in which ACORN employees pled guilty to misdemeanor counts of voter registration fraud, but stated that these cases did not allege any wrongdoing on behalf of ACORN or any affiliated organizations. In fact, ACORN offered materials to local election officials that helped initiate the prosecution of the guilty individuals, and each case stated that ACORN had properly trained the individuals to legally register voters.
The GAO report also states that agencies providing funding to ACORN generally did not report “any problem with grants,” although reviews are ongoing.
During the run-up to the Health Care vote, Congressman John Lewis and several other black lawmakers were verbally assaulted by Tea Bagger protesters as they walked from one of the Office Buildings to the Capital Building. 4 Congressmen, including a white Congressman reported hearing chants of the N-word hurled at the lawmakers by Tea Baggers.
Andrew Breitbart
Within a day or so of the incident being reported in the MSM, a video posted by Andrew Breitbart. Brietbart was central in “breaking” the James O’Keefe white-boy pimp ACORN sting, and providing the videos to Faux News. Brietbart, and others within the Tea Party movement are claiming that the incident reported by the Congressmen never happened, based on a video purportedly shot during the time the Congressmen claim they were assaulted. They are claiming that the Congressmen are lying in order to portray the Tea Baggers in a racist light.
Now it turns out that the video presented by Brietbart and other Tea Baggers of evidence that the assault never happened, was shot at a totally different time than the period in which the Congressmen claim they were assaulted.
Now – this could have been a mistake, but when you consider the same sources are the origin of the now thoroughly discredited ACORN tapes which resulted in the destruction of ACORN…
Then the DOJ needs to start looking at this as a criminal enterprise, and needs to look at possibly charging Mr. Breitbart and his accomplices with several crimes, including potentially violations under the Civil Rights Act, Wire Fraud, and Mail Fraud.
Three Democratic congressmen — all black — say they heard racial slurs as they walked through thousands of angry protesters outside the U.S. Capitol. A white lawmaker says he heard the epithets too. Conservative activists say the lawmakers are lying.
What does the video show? Not much. Indeed, new interviews show that a much-viewed YouTube recording cited as evidence by conservatives was actually shot well after the time in question.
It was March 20, near the end of the bitter health care debate, when Reps. John Lewis, Andre Carson and Emanuel Cleaver say that some demonstrators, many of them tea party activists, yelled the “N-word” as the congressmen walked from House office buildings to the Capitol. Read the rest of this entry »
The announcement came a day after the board of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now met and approved the steps required “to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months,” an ACORN statement read.
The group’s remaining state affiliates and field offices will close by April 1, and a plan will be developed to pay its debts, the statement said.
“ACORN’s members have a great deal to be proud of — from promoting homeownership to helping rebuild New Orleans, from raising wages to winning safer streets, from training community leaders to promoting voter participation — ACORN members have worked hard to create stronger communities, a more inclusive democracy and a more just nation,” it said.
The 40-year-old liberal group was crippled by scandal six months ago when a pair of conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute secretly videotaped two ACORN employees appearing to give them advice about setting up a prostitution ring and evading the IRS.
Three news items about ACORN and their fight against the right wing today –
This First one is un-Constitutional, and I don’t think could stand up under Court challenge. ESPECIALLY since the SCOTUS granted “person-hood” to corporations. This one is a violation of the corporate person’s Civil Rights – and might be subject to Criminal, as well as Civil penalties in my view.
The community organizing group ACORN has agreed to give up its Ohio business license and not return under another name, as it has in other states, under a settlement struck with a libertarian center that sued it.
U.S. District Judge Herman Weber, in Cincinnati, signed off on the deal, which settles claims brought by the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law against ACORN’s voter registration practices. Other terms of the deal are confidential.
The center alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2008 that ACORN’s voter registration drives amounted to organized crime because the group turned in a pattern of fraudulent forms.
Center attorney Maurice Thompson said restricting ACORN’s ability to support or enable other groups to ”do what they do” was crucial to the deal, especially in a state he characterized as ”ground zero” to their voter advocacy efforts.
This one is from Breitbart “hisself” – which means it doesn’t have much credibility.
A state court in Baltimore has dismissedACORN’s lawsuit against James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Breitbart.com LLC after the plaintiffs failed to serve the complaint on the defendants within Maryland’s 120-day limit.
And last, but not least, Constitutional vindication of ACORN. Now, those of you with strong stomachs can read the one from Faux News, with a decided “Fair and Balanced” slant from the Faux Outhouse News Outlet… Read the rest of this entry »
The embattled liberal group ACORN is in the process of dissolving its national structure, with state and local-chapters splitting off from the underfunded, controversial national group, an official close to the group confirmed.
“ACORN has dissolved as a national structure of state organizations,” said a senior official close to the group, who declined to be identified by name because of the fierce conservative attacks on the group that began when a conservative filmmaker caught some staffers of its tax advisory arms on tape appearing to offer advice on incorporating a prostitution business.
The videos proved a rallying point for conservatives who had long accused the group of fomenting voting fraud. Though the videos did not produce criminal charges, they appear to have been fatal to the national organization.
“Consistent with what the internal recommendations have been, each of the states are developing plans for reconstitution independence and self-sufficiency,” said the official, citing ACORN’s “diminished resources, damage to the brand, unprecedented attacks.”
The new organizations, he said “will be constituted under new banners and new bylaws and new governance,” he said, consistent with the recommendations of an outside panel.
Much of the group’s strength lay in its local chapters in places like New York, which appear to be continuing to operate as normal. New York’s City Hall News reported today that the local group there had re-emerged under the name “New York Communities for Change.”
Tapping, or tampering with a Congressman or Senator’s phones is a Federal Crime. A Felony punishable by 10 Years in prison and a $250,000 fine. There is ample precedent for this going back to the days before cellular phone service was encrypted and digitized, where a couple managed to overhear and record a conversation by then House Speaker “Neut” Gingrich. The couple were fined $5,000.00 each – not because they were able to overhear the conversation (which was legal) – but because they recorded it.
Entering, or attempting to gain entry to a Federal Building with a false identification is also a Felony. Making the actions of O’Keefe and his accomplices even more serious. Of course, one of the co-conspirators, Robert Flanagan’s, father is the acting US District Attorney (Bill Flanagan) for Western Louisiana – so these white boy criminals will likely get “special justice” – walking away with a hand slap instead of prison time.
But it could be “Hard Out There for a Pimp”, having to spend time in a real prison, with real pimps…
O’Keefe was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a Salt Lake County GOP fundraiser on Feb. 4. But county GOP Chairman Thomas Wright told the Salt Lake Tribune: “We’ll be announcing a new speaker shortly.”
Rep. Pete Olson, R-Tex., is on the defense for introducing a resolution honoring O’Keefe for exposing ACORN. He told the Hill that he doesn’t condone unlawful behavior, as On Deadline reported this morning. There were 31 cosponsors on that resolution, so you can expect Democratic challengers to use that resolution against their GOP opponents in this fall’s midterm elections. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., is identified here as a cosponsor of that resolution.
ACRON Pimp Trading His Furry Duds for and Orange Jumpsuit?
Four young men posing as telephone repairmen have been arrested for allegedly interfering with the telephones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in downtown New Orleans, including James O’Keefe 3rd, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos have scandalized the ACORN voter registration operation.
According to a federal affidavit unsealed Tuesday in New Orleans, O’Keefe and three others were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses to commit a felony on Monday when they told the senator’s aide they were repairmen and needed access to the main phone line at the reception desk.
O’Keefe has appeared on numerous conservative stations with his videos of ACORN operations. He is most widely known for pretending to be a pimp and secretly taping ACORN officials in several cities, where he obtained advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution. To many he has become a conservative folk hero and has promised similar techniques to ambush other liberal organizations.
Another of the defendants, 24-year-old Robert Flanagan, was identified as the son of William Flanagan, the top federal prosecutor and acting head of the United States Attorney’s Office in Shreveport, La.
According to FBI Special Agent Stephen Rayes, O’Keefe was the first to appear in Landrieu’s reception area in the late morning Monday on the tenth floor of the Hale Boggs Federal Building. He told a member of the senator’s staff that he was “waiting for someone to arrive.”
The agent said that Flanagan and Joseph Basel, 24, then appeared in the reception area, “each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light fluorescent vest, a tool belt and carrying white, construction-style hard hats.” They said they were there “to fix problems with the telephone system.”
As O’Keefe appeared to be filming them from his cell phone, Basel ”manipulated” the handset of the receptionist’s phone and Basel tried to call that number from another phone. But “he stated that he could not get through.”
Flanagan and Basel next asked for access to the telephone closet and told a General Services Administration employee on the tenth floor that they were there to repair the phone lines, Agent Rayes said. When asked for their credentials, Flanagan and Basel said they had left their identification in their vehicle.
All four men were arrested, and Agent Rayes said Flanagan and Basel admitted they were not phone repairmen and had entered Landrieu’s office under false pretenses.
The men were released Tuesday on unsecured bonds of $10,000 each.
The federal government must continue to provide grant money to the national community organizing group Acorn, a federal court ruled Friday, saying that the House violated the Constitution when it passed a resolution barring the group from receiving federal dollars.
A judge at the United States District Court in Brooklyn issued a preliminary injunction that nullifies the resolution and requires the government to honor existing contracts with the group and review its applications for new grants unless the Obama administration appeals the decision.
The court ruled that the resolution amounted to a “bill of attainder,” a legislative determination of guilt without trial, because it specifically punishes one group.
That provision plays a crucial, but rarely necessary, role in maintaining the balance of powers, said Eric M. Freedman, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra Law School. “It says that the Congress may not act as judge, jury and executioner. That is precisely what the Congress sought to do in this case, and the district court was entirely right to enjoin it.”
In the opinion, Judge Nina Gershon wrote of Acorn, “They have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt.”
The Justice Department said it was still reviewing the ruling Friday night.
Judge Gershon’s opinion made a point of separating the court’s ruling from the controversy surrounding Acorn, which is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
The House acted after the organization came under fire for a series of embarrassing scandals, most notably the disclosure by conservative activists of videotape showing Acorn counselors giving mortgage advice to people posing as a pimp and a prostitute interested in setting up a brothel. Even before that, Republicans attacked the group, accusing it of voter registration fraud in 2008.
Jules Lobel, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the suit on behalf of Acorn, said the resolution was the first time Congress had ever singled out one group for punishment. “Whenever you challenge a statute of Congress, it’s always a significant political battle,” Mr. Lobel said.
The chief executive of Acorn, Bertha Lewis, issued a statement calling the ruling a victory for the group and “the citizens who work through Acorn to improve their communities and promote responsible lending and homeownership.”
In a lawsuit filed last month, Acorn argued that it was penalized by Congress “without an investigation” and had been forced to cut programs that counsel struggling homeowners and to lay off workers.
What is amazing to me is the Democrats who were stupid enough, and chickenshit enough to be cowed into voting for this ban.
And I’m wondering why a Law which bans corrupt companies – including Federal Contractors who have stolen billions in taxpayer money in Iraq…
This is what the Faux News “war” is really about. Pay special attention to the Paul Weyrich remark –
Rethuglys are attempting to attack organizations which they see as “Democratic Bases”, including ACORN and the SEIU in an attempt to deny funding and voters to the Democrats. Faux News has led the charge in trying to destroy ACORN, the SEIU, and Voter Registration Drives.
Look for Congress to start going after Faux, and the captive right-wing propaganda operations through a number of vehicles, including some sort of modified Fairness Doctrine. I would hope the FCC is encouraged to bring back local station ownership requirements, and break up the virtual monopoly on the radio airwaves.
Insofar as Rachael Maddow’s claim that the “Anti-Acorn” Law is unconstitutional – need I remind anyone that the constitutionality of a law hasn’t been a consideration of the conservative 5 justice majority in the Supreme Court…
SEIU - 54 percent of all full-time Black workers in the United States receive low wages, working for $12.87 an hour or less - Unionization raises African American workers' wages by $2.00/hour (11.2 percent)
Naaaaaaahhhh! There couldn’t possibly be any similarity here!
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank of America Corp. is suspending its work with the housing affiliate of embattled community organizing group ACORN. The decision comes as three Republicans in Congress ask Bank of America and 13 other financial institutions to give Congress a complete accounting of their dealings with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or its affiliates.
In a statement, Bank of America said it would not enter into any further agreements with ACORN Housing Corp. until the bank is satisfied all issues have been resolved. ACORN Housing Corp. and Bank of America have worked together for years on mortgage foreclosure issues.
You will have to excuse me on this one, but this is like Bernie Madoff calling your local WallMart Shoplifter who has been caught…
A thief.
Bank of America, as the largest US Bank – stole a goodly part of the $38 BILLION collected from consumers last year in “Overdraft fees” on their checking accounts by banks. Overdraft fees, which were often manipulated into existence – by the bank. And that doesn’t even get into the predatory sub-prime lending of some of their subsidiaries.
The only real difference between Al Capone and Bank of America, is while Al was able to buy protection from a Mayor and a Governor…
Bank of America’s corrupt enterprise has enabled them to buy protection from Congress.
If America weren’t the 13thon the list of corrupt nations in the world (the Economist)…
The senior executives and senior financial staff of Bank of America would be spending 20 years of jail time next to the “common” thieves…
Btx3's Blog 